The Scarecrow and the Spinner
by AnimateObsessive
Summary: Kakashi has always treasured the simplicity, the dependability, the softness of his romantic relationship with Sakura. Into that simplicity walks a man whose ultimate goal is to disrupt the world two lovers have built around each other. Helpless, Kakashi watches as this man spins his simple love life out of control.
1. Triangles and Circles

It was altogether the worst conclusion for an outing.

Sakura annoyed to breaking point and Kakashi trying to calm her down.

At the risk of igniting her temper yet again, Kakashi uttered quietly,

"You're overreacting."

Luckily, she chose to pass over this assessment. Sakura had stormed into the house ahead of her boyfriend, the look of wrath still lingering on her features. Now she was lounging across the couch, looking somewhat more collected but still capable of a powerful explosion.

Emboldened by her lack of violence, Kakashi continued.

"The fact that you would hit me just for _glancing_ at another woman..."

This was the opposite way he should have approached the subject. The moment the words passed his lips, Sakura could no longer feign deafness.

"_Glanced_?" she snapped. "You were practically _drooling_ over her. Don't lie to me, Kakashi. I saw you staring at her legs and her breasts."

She spared a rueful glance for her stubborn legs that, despite her gentle urging, refused to be as curved and sexy as she wanted them to be. She also felt the need to glare at her breasts, which could not be talked into becoming two sizes larger. Kakashi had assured her many times that he found her immensely attractive, including her legs and breasts, but she never seemed to take his assurance to heart.

Kakashi was tempted to inform her how absurd she was being, for he had never drooled over anyone in his entire life. He was perfectly capable of keeping his saliva under control.

"I wasn't staring," he uttered with great patience for perhaps the fourteenth time since the incident. "I only looked at her for three seconds."

"You can look at a woman _without_ trying to estimate her measurements with your eyes, Kakashi."

A sigh drifted from between the man's lips.

"Do you have to be so jealous?" he demanded, irritated. "I love you and you alone. Is that so difficult to understand?"

Sakura didn't appear impressed by his words.

"Haven't you ever been jealous, Kakashi? Haven't you ever caught me staring at another guy and felt a deep sense of envy?"

Kakashi rolled the query around his mind for a moment before answering.

"Well...no. But you rarely stare at other guys to the best of my knowledge."

This was certainly the truth. Sakura herself couldn't recall it happening more than perhaps once in the history of their entire relationship (now teetering over the two-year mark). And, she was forced to admit to herself, Kakashi didn't make a habit of allowing his lustful gaze to wander whenever they went out together. He never commented on beautiful women in photographs, even in passing. He gave the impression of being wholly uninterested in any other women, regardless of their attractiveness in comparison to Sakura.

But logic wouldn't penetrate her mind that day.

She leapt from her seat with her arms intertwined and a severe look upon her visage.

"I'm going out," she uttered simply, her tone laced with frost.

In normal circumstances, her companion would have inquired about when she would return and where she was going. But these were not NORMAL circumstances in terms of their relationship.

He watched her depart without a single word, a feeling of utter dread bubbling in his stomach.

Over coffee, Sakura spelled out the entire predicament to Sasuke.

"He acts as if he's supposed to be able to check out a hundred women without me saying a word!" she groused, paying little attention to her rapidly cooling beverage.

Sasuke wondered how one single woman somehow morphed into a hundred, but he held back that particular query. Sakura had been in a terrible mood when she entered the coffee shop and he had no desire to send it up another level.

"How can he so so smart, yet such a complete idiot?" the female continued, her voice climbing in indignation. "He has no idea what it feels like to be jealous, yet he acts like I'm silly for it!"

The raven-tressed male paused for a moment, quietly sipping his coffee.

"You're right. He's being utterly inconsiderate."

The woman was rather astonished by this opinion. She definitely _needed_ someone to take her side on the matter, but Sasuke seemed the last person to choose a team.

As she gazed at him, slightly puzzled, he leaned forward and tenderly touched her hand.

"Sakura..."

The apartment looked no different when she returned.

It still maintained the old imprints of her love life, including a few scandalous occurrences that she refused to discuss. Everything smelled, appeared, and indeed was the same as it had been when she departed. The same stains, however rare, the same slight aroma that, although unpleasant to some, pleased her because it smelled of home. And there was even the same man she had taken as her lover, sitting on the same couch she had been sprawled on earlier.

"Back so soon?" Kakashi observed, a touch of caution in his voice.

"It was only coffee with Sasuke."

She halted for a moment, weighing her words with care. They were things she felt required to say, yet she had no real inclination to do so. Wouldn't things like this be better hidden? Or would they simply build up inside of her and explode from her lips at the merest prompting? That would be even less desired.

"Um...we were talking about you..."

"Makes sense. I see you've calmed down a little."

"...and...well..."

She hesitated, reeling in a deep breath.

"He started saying a bunch of weird things. About how he'd always admired me and thought I was strong and pretty. And...um...he sort of said that he was going to steal me away from you."

Two moments of absolute silence sauntered by. Neither person spoke, each trying to digest a different fraction of what had just been said.

Finally, quite abruptly, Kakashi surrendered his seat. His visage a mask of cryptic emotion, he began striding in the direction of the door. He would have reached it and left without issue, had Sakura not seized his arm to stop him. She wondered, although it was unlikely, if he was going to take an extended trip to the local bar.

"Where are you going?"

"To punch Sasuke in the nose."

A look of complete shock spread across the female's visage at the answer that was given in a casual tone of voice.

"You...you can't just...!"

"Oh, you want me to exterminate him completely? I'd be more than happy to comply."

Her voice choked by nervous, unconvincing laughter, Sakura uttered desperately,

"You're not serious!"

He didn't reply, not that a response was actually needed. The gathering darkness on his features more than confirmed his intentions.

"I-I might have misunderstood his words," Sakura fabricated hastily. "I was really upset and you know how easily I get mixed up..."

Her excuse didn't convince Kakashi in the slightest. If anything, the fact that she was trying to prevent a confrontation between the two men fueled the fire of his anger.

Sakura was at a loss for a solution. She wanted to stop Kakashi from doing something he would regret later, yet was it possible to stop him when he was in such a state? Would words be enough to soothe his climbing temper? She had only seen Kakashi in a true rage once or twice in her life and he seemed like an unstoppable force during those times.

Abandoning her previous method, Sakura seized Kakashi's arm yet again.

"Are you out of your mind?" she demanded. "You can't just go and pick a fight with Sasuke! He probably wasn't even serious!"

"Pick a fight? I'm going to kill him."

Obviously, his words did not alleviate her sense of dread.

In the end, she was forced to allow him his departure.

Sakura stood staring at the door for several minutes, very worried.

Kakashi found Sasuke at the exact same coffee shop.

Apparently, the raven-haired man had not moved since his conversation with Sakura. He was sitting there casually, as if he'd been waiting for Kakashi's arrival. In front of him was a fresh cup of coffee with steam rising from it. As the other man approached, he took a sip of the beverage. His smile had the calmness of one who sensed no threat.

"I take it Sakura told you?" Sasuke theorized casually.

"Yes, she did. What are you playing at, you bastard?"

Sasuke raised his eyebrow at the rude words. If he had expected anything, it was not to be addressed in such an unpleasant way.

"Playing at?" he echoed incredulously. "It's not my fault you decided to be so inconsiderate to the woman you claim to love."

Kakashi's death glare intensified.

Pretending not to notice this, Sasuke continued serenely.

"Sakura was in love with me first. Then it was Naruto. You were her third choice. Do you think you're _special_ or something?"

He said the word "special" as if it had insulted him personally.

If looks could kill, the elevation of Kakashi's death glare at that moment could have turned Sasuke into a smouldering pile of ash.

"My, my," Sasuke commented, maintaining a slightly mocking smile.. "You must learn to control that envy of yours!"

What was Sasuke's reasoning behind his careless mockery? He seemed to be intentionally feeding Kakashi's rage, rather than trying to decrease it. Even his expression was one of serenity, as if he didn't expect repercussions for his words or actions. He was acting in the manner of one who has done nothing wrong and is amused by the implications that he has committed a transgression.

"Yes, Sakura loved you first," Kakashi admitted reluctantly. "Why bring that up now? The only thing I care about at the moment is that you have no respect for the possessions of others!"

Sasuke arched his eyebrow at this, cheerfully incredulous.

"Possessions?" he echoed sceptically. "I had no idea you felt that way about Sakura. But if she's just another _possession_, like your Make-Out Paradise... Why are you even with her?"

Kakashi himself was startled by the term that slid comfortably off his tongue. "Possession"? He had never thought of her as a mere "possession". Yet he, without hesitation, had referred to her as such a few seconds previous...

Sasuke interrupted the train of disconcerting thoughts that had wandered into Kakashi's mind.

"That's all she is to you, isn't it?" he inquired. "I was hoping you'd come to the realization on your own without my help."

The words "No, she's not!" longed to emerge from Kakashi's lips, but he for some reason could not produce them. He merely stared at the raven-tressed man, immensely vexed.

"Forget her." Sasuke idly stirred his coffee with the tip of his finger. "She's nothing. Your relationship is nothing. The way I see it, she's just a whiny bitch you're pretending to care about. Wouldn't you rather be with someone you _love_ deep in your heart?"

The conversation had blown off course. It was meant to entertain the subject of Sasuke stealing Sakura away, but for some reason it had altered from that path to discuss something more complex. Not to mention it had planted a few seeds in Kakashi's mind.

He had never doubted the integrity of his relationship with Sakura. He saw no perfection in it, but he always found it comfortably sturdy. As Sakura rushed into adulthood, the pair had found themselves pulled towards each other. Idle comments became gateways to sexually suggestive conversations, satisfying details of each others' personalities were noted in a more appraising fashion, there were more smiles, confessions, and a general feeling of optimistic comfort when they were alone together. When they at last gave in to their urges, it felt too natural to be anything other than love. Ever since that day, Kakashi had never questioned the two of them being together, even though plenty of others had found it "inappropriate".

Sasuke was not finished.

If his previous words had sent Kakashi's thoughts spinning out of control, his next words sent Kakashi's brain into orbit.

"That bitch doesn't deserve you," Sasuke uttered, scowling for the first time.

He took a sip of his warm coffee, eyeing the other man critically. When he returned the cup to the table, all traces of amusement or mockery had departed his features.

"The only person who deserves you is me."


	2. Being Loved

Sakura could always sense when Kakashi didn't want to talk.  
She was sitting on the couch when he returned, her eyes perusing a magazine without any clue as to what the subject matter of it was. Her body had moved forward in time, but her mind was still trapped in those stressful moments between her hesitant revelation and the threat on Sasuke's life Kakashi had calmly delivered.  
Discarding her magazine, Sakura opened her mouth to ask questions.  
Only to close it a second later.  
With difficulty, she swallowed the many queries that were crowding into her mouth. She was consistent in her respect for Kakashi's right to remain mute, even if it caused her unending annoyance. In this case, the effort of holding back her words was tremendous. She longed for reassurance that there had been a civil discussion, rather than a full-scale war between her former sensei and former teammate. She felt isolated and scared, living with only her unpleasant theories for company.  
The silence would have to lift at some point, she told herself. Eventually, with quiet prompting, he would relinquish a full account of the event.  
But the remainder of the day passed and he did not say a word.  
His tongue remained rigid, his features hosting indecipherable emotions. When their gazes met, he would shift his away as if staring at her too long might force words from his lips. A wall of silence developed between them.  
A silent bedtime rolled around, without even a friendly "Goodnight" to round off the day. Perhaps Kakashi worried that unwanted utterances might spill from his mouth if he were to speak even that simple word.  
However, he did not sleep.  
Sleep was an impossibility on this night. Kakashi could only lie awake in bed, staring at the dark ceiling and listening to Sakura's quiet breathing beside him. Innocent Sakura, haunted by questions rather than answers. He envied her for being burdened with unattached queries. The answers he had gotten that day were ones he could have done without.  
The memory of earlier that day came back to him. Sasuke's words, serene and yet pounding in his skull...  
_"I knew you would come. I just had to feed Sakura some bullshit about stealing her away from you. You couldn't stand that, could you? Your precious pride wouldn't allow me to get away with it. Despite the carefree way you appear to outsiders, you really are passionate about certain things."_  
Kakashi didn't want any of this. It was bizarre, it was unfair, it was _agonizing_ that it was being forced on him. And the worst of it had not yet replayed. Sasuke's voice continued to speak within his head, the sincerity of his words apparent.  
_"So, that bitch Sakura... How is she in bed? No, don't answer. However good she is, I can do better. I can please you in ways you won't find in Make-Out Paradise. I can love you in ways too intimate and through to put in print. You think being loved by Sakura is nice? I'll show you what it truly means to be loved...if you'll allow me."_  
Kakashi recalled his own reaction. Or rather his lack of one. For he had stood there in silence, his face utterly blank as Sasuke spoke. He could have departed, but he remained for the duration of the speech. It was as if Sasuke's mere words had rendered him incapable of escape.  
_"I'm going to steal you away from Sakura."_  
On its own, Kakashi could have excused it as a poor attempt at humor. But stacked up against everything else that had been said, he knew it was not meant to be comedic.  
Kakashi's world had only just started spinning.  
Yet he was already getting dizzy.

Kakashi did not want to see Sasuke's face first thing in the morning.  
He had been steadily driving that visage from his thoughts. It was only when it had departed completely that he was allowed one or two replenishing hours of slumber. By the time he achieved this commendable feat, the first rays of the sun were beginning to peek over the rooftops. Sooner than he desired, he was being yanked headfirst into the waking world by his shrieking alarm clock.  
The last thing Kakashi wanted to see before his breakfast was the serene features of Sasuke Uchiha gazing at him from the doorway.  
"Good morning. Sleep well?"  
One small mercy made the event slightly more bearable. That small mercy was the fact that Sakura was absent. Due to a mission, she had left the apartment earlier than him, leaving behind an affectionate little note to reiterate her absence. Kakashi wondered briefly if intellectual Sasuke had arranged to call on the man at the perfect time out of concern for Sakura's feelings.  
"I don't want to talk to you," Kakashi responded baldly.  
Sasuke's only reply to this blunt statement was a slightly raised eyebrow, as if he found the impoliteness undeserved. He was displaying the same manner he had in the coffee shop, which Kakashi found somewhat maddening.  
"Where is it?" he inquired curiously.  
"It?"  
Kakashi's confusion momentarily pushed aside his anger.  
"Sakura-chan. Your possession."  
The displeasure rose in Kakashi's chest yet again, a monster rearing its head after a brief slumber. Sasuke was bringing _that_ up again! Was it the only objection to Kakashi and Sakura's relationship that he could conjure up? Or did he merely relish the inevitable fury that always accompanied the words? His smile suggested that it was a marriage of the two.  
"Sakura is _not_..."  
"...worth more than a common prostitute?"  
Sasuke completed the sentence in his own way, the ghost of a smirk around the corners of his mouth. He was doing as he had done before, as intentional as it had been the last time. He was giving the fury more power, rather than draining its capacity. Despite having confessed his love for Kakashi, he seemed to be taking a certain enjoyment in stroking the temper of his supposed beloved. If it was his attempt at flirting, he was making an obvious error.  
Kakashi was seized by a violent urge to slam the door in his visitor's face. Or deliver that promised punch in the nose he had intended before. He knew it would be more prudent for him to master himself, yet he felt it might be justified for him to allow the animosity to have its way with him.  
Before he could perform either satisfying action, Sasuke spoke in a voice that was wholly serious.  
"You're hurting her."  
"What?"  
"You're hurting Sakura. You're letting her fall into the illusion that she means more to you than she did back when she was a mere student. She loves you, Kakashi. But you don't love her. Why don't you just give up the facade and let _me_ love you?"  
The words "let me love you" detached themselves from Sasuke's short paragraph. They nudged something in Kakashi's mind, temporarily distracting him from his mounting rage. Something about the structure of that utterance...  
"Let you love me?" he uttered quietly. "Does that mean you wouldn't care if I loved you back?"  
Sasuke laughed, but there was no humor in the sound.  
"You weren't meant to love. You were meant to _be_ loved."  
The words stirred something in Kakashi's mind. A distant, half-dissolved memory concerning Sakura. The conversation, so brief and easily forgotten, had slunk to the very back of his recollections. It was only now, two years after its occurrence, that he recalled that one particular comment.  
"You weren't meant to chase, Kakashi. You were meant to _be_ chased."  
What had Sakura meant by that? He had never bothered to ask her. The events following the utterance washed it away and stranded it on a deserted island in his thoughts. But what had Sasuke meant by his similar words? Was there something about him, something he himself was unaware of, that other people noticed? People who..._loved_ him, like Sasuke or Sakura?  
"Here. Take this."  
Sasuke produced an especially gorgeous rose, his features shifting to affection. It was rather unnerving to see such an expression on his face. It was rare, if not nonexistent, for him to openly display an emotion so sincere and tender. In that one instant, his visage changed in all the most pleasing ways. He had obviously been building up to this one amiable gesture from the beginning of the visit.  
Kakashi, his brain numb with wonderings, took the unexpected gift without comment. Even if he had managed to grasp speech, it would have been confused and virtually indecipherable.  
The selcouth affection on Sasuke's face seemed to deepen as Kakashi accepted the flower. It was as if the two men became willing participants in a silent agreement. The rose itself was a contract that Sasuke had submitted to the other man for his approval. By accepting it, Kakashi had given his signature to an unbreakable vow.  
His lips forming three silent words, Sasuke reached out and lightly brushed Kakashi's cheek, as if he merely wanted a sample of the other man's warmth to take home with him. Kakashi did not respond to this touch, although in this case it had more to do with his astonishment. Proceeding this, he lifted a slightly quivering hand to his cheek as if a shocking blow had been delivered to it. He was not blushing, yet he could have sworn an odd heat was rising somewhere inside of his body.  
Sasuke left, but Kakashi scarcely noticed. He stood staring at the empty doorway for many moments, his mind a confused haze of thoughts lazily thrown together. To him, a year's worth of shocking events had crowded into his life in the space of three minutes. A century's worth of problems were bearing down on him, intent on causing harm to his body and mind. He could not avoid these problems by any method. He could only face them in combat, although his victory was not assured.  
How much more of this would he have to endure before his world finally stopped spinning?

_"I'm surprised you let me chase you."_  
_"Hm?"_  
_"I didn't think you were the kind of man who would let yourself be chased."_  
_"Isn't "chased" a little dramatic? You...pursued me..."_  
_"Obsessively."_  
_"Normally."_  
_"You've never chased a woman, have you? Not that I'm surprised."_  
_"I can't say I've ever felt the need to..._CHASE_...anyone."_  
_"Of course you haven't. You weren't meant to chase. You were meant to _be_ chased."_  
Why was he thinking about that conversation now? Why was he thinking about what it had ultimately led up to in the space of ten minutes?  
Kakashi lay in bed yet again, listening to Sakura's soft breathing beside him. The mercy of slumber was again refusing to wash over him. He was trapped in the waking world where his thoughts and memories of earlier dominated him. If sleep were to claim him, he would become the puppet of troubled dreams that would evaporate in the morning, unlike everything else that had happened in the previous two days. But sleep would not claim him, a bitter fact that he must come to terms with. Insomnia was an unfortunate side effect of a world that was spinning too quickly for him to control.  
He remembered Sakura's eagerness. She had not been reluctant about them having sex for the first time. He was the one hesitating, the one who did not want to rush into such a thing. He had been hesitant about their very relationship from the beginning, as he found it wrong to even consider it due to their status. When everything came into the light, the reception wasn't as bad as it could have been. His reputation was still more or less intact and he had learned to close his ears to the whispers. But Sakura, from the beginning, had not cared about their status. She loved him absolutely and would not allow something as meaningless as him having been her sensei to stand in the way of that love.  
But again, why was he thinking of that now? It was insignificant at this point in time.  
Sasuke's words came swimming into his ocean of thoughts.  
_"So, that bitch Sakura...how is she in bed?"_  
Uncomfortable, Kakashi lay back on his pillow and closed his eyes.  
He could still feel the ghost of Sasuke's touch, even though the hand was long gone.


	3. Strawberries

_"Give him back!"_

_"No, he needs to help us finish the roof!"_

_"He's going shopping with me!"_

_"Kakashi-sensei belongs to all of us!"_

A childish, pointless argument with no seriousness attached to it.

In light of recent events, Kakashi was beginning to see such memories with new eyes. He would have normally perused them at his leisure, but this was not permitted on that day. The memories had taken on minds of their own, propelling themselves to the front of his mind at their own will, rather than his. He wished to run errands as usual, yet they would not leave him alone.

Was this foreshadowing? he wondered bitterly. Was this destined from the moment I met them?

They had been such innocent children back then. Untouched by a miserable future that would leave their innocence broken. But now Kakashi was beginning to wonder if there had been something else brewing behind the scenes. Perhaps his world had not started spinning when Sasuke uttered those fatal words. Perhaps it had started spinning when he had casually entered a classroom and been assaulted by an eraser.

I need to see Sakura, Kakashi thought, abruptly anxious. If I can see her face, I can...I can...

But she was far away, on a mission. He was in the village, running errands. He could not reach her and it would be rather inconvenient to her task if he interfered for any reason. He felt ashamed of himself for thinking that his hunger to see her face for reasons he could not comprehend was more important than her mission.

An aroma drifted across his nostrils, supple and sweet.

Strawberries, he thought.

A vivid image of his beloved rose to the top of his mind: Sakura, standing in the shower, water cascading across her soft pink tresses and bare back. Her supple breast was scarcely visible from the angle, protruding tantalizing from the side. Her hands were buried in her hair, massaging shampoo deep into the beautiful locks. She began to turn, an inviting smile on her lips, toward the front...

Kakashi inhaled deeply, drawing in the faint scent of strawberry shampoo.

Was Sakura...?

His heart pounding slightly, Kakashi turned toward the direction the scent seemed to originate from. Barely conscious of the swaying shopping bag in his hand, he strode toward the aroma as if it was reeling him in. He could not explain why Sakura would have returned to the village early, but he knew the scent must belong to her. The unique, the intoxicating, the alluring aroma only carried by the woman he loved dearly...

He turned a corner and saw Sasuke.

A feeling of bitter disappointment slammed into Kakashi's heart. He had been so convinced that he was about to see Sakura that he, for one lovely second, thought it WAS her. Then his eyes, briefly blinded to cruel reality, realized that he was gazing at a smirking raven-haired man.

"You came that easily?" Sasuke uttered, his tone somewhat mocking. "You remind me of a trained dog yourself, Kakashi."

Although it was not at all in his normal line of reactions, Kakashi felt he might burst into tears at this setback. His heart had taken such a long, confident leap when the smell of his beloved drifted into his nostrils. To find the current object of his disdain standing there in her place seemed to suck all the happiness from his entire body. He wondered how many moments, perhaps hours, the treacherous man had stood there in preparation for an assured meeting.

"What if I styled my hair like Sakura's?" Sasuke mused aloud. "What if I began dressing in the same colors she enjoys? What if I began using the same shampoo she uses every day? I wonder if your feelings would become muddled as you tried to choose between the woman you think you want and the man who deserves you."

"You're a fool if you think my feelings are that shallow," was Kakashi's cold reply.

For some reason, Sasuke appeared to find this response highly amusing. A laugh emerged from between his lips, soft at first but slowly blossoming into a true roar of mirth. It was a strange contrast, the man expressing immense entertainment and the other man staring back with an expression of frigid indifference. Additionally, it was odd to hear a man of Sasuke's personality roaring with true amusement at something that had been spoken.

After a minute or two, Sasuke managed to choke down his persistent laughter. When he spoke, it was in voice winning the struggle against an urge to repeat the previous fit.

"Oh, Kakashi, you're in no position to call someone a fool," he uttered somewhat thickly. "The stubborn man who clutches someone to his chest and proclaims his false love for them without realizing it is false cannot tell anyone that they're an idiot."

They had reached that topic yet again. The topic that was always lurking out of sight, waiting for the opening to sink its claws into their conversation. What more could be said in regards to Sasuke's claim and Kakashi's swift denial of it? All had been spoken and nothing had been resolved on either side of this verbal conflict. Neither man would surrender in the opinion they cradled as fact.

Rudely, without the suggestion of a farewell, Kakashi departed.

_I need to stay away from him,_ he thought. _If I keep my distance, he'll give up and no one ever needs to know._

But he should not have said that, even within the palladium of his own brain.

Sasuke was waiting, like a bird prepared to attack its prey.

Indeed, with his rather spiky hair and the pleased, almost malevolent, grin that spread across his features, he resembled an exotic fowl.

_"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?"_

Kakashi did not mean to snarl the words with such menace, but that is the way they departed his mouth. He had spent the remainder of the week avoiding Sasuke as he had intended, yet now he found the same man sitting calmly _in in his own home!_ It was unfair to the highest extent, as if the world itself was playing a cruel joke on unfortunate Kakashi.

Sakura emerged from the kitchen, a pleasant smile on her features and a tray in her hands.

"Ah, you're home. Sasuke came to visit. Isn't that nice?"

His smirk widening, Sasuke took the glass of beverage offered to him by the oblivious woman.

"Yes, I came to visit. Isn't that nice?"

The color had drained from Kakashi's face at the sight of Sakura. What had Sasuke told her? Did she know everything, from the confession to everything else of significance? Was her cheerful smile merely concealing the fact that her heart was melting with grief at the discovery? Or was it concealing an explosion of envious rage that was working its way to the surface?

_Sakura has never been one to hide her despair,_ Kakashi told himself.

It was a logical truth that rested on years of experience. He might have paid less attention to Sakura during his time as her sensei, but he had not been completely blind to her traits. Her inability to hide immense remorse or aggressive fury had not depleted over the course of her continued existence, even as many other things did. He was relieved to remember these crucial pieces of information, but it still left a gaping hole that should have been occupied by an equally rational explanation for Sasuke's sudden visit to the apartment. What new trick was he playing?

Passing over his sense of foreboding, Kakashi sat down beside Sasuke on the couch. He had never noticed before just how little space there was between one side and the other. He felt restricted, as if he been thrust objecting into a tiny room with the raven-haired man. His displeasure elevated when the other man turned to gaze at him, although the grin had disappeared.

"And why did Sasuke come to visit?" Kakashi inquired in a rather malicious tone.

Perhaps catching the note of malice in Kakashi's voice, Sasuke weighed the impact of his words with care before he responded. He took advantage of the beverage in his hand, imbibing a fair amount of it before he spoke. Even then, he elevated the duration by giving Sakura an innocent word of thanks for the drink preceding his reply to the question. For once, he did not seem intent on upsetting the object of his affection.

"I get lonely at times," he uttered finally. "Maybe I should start dating."

_Yes, you should,_ Kakashi thought sourly.

The exact same utterance fell from Sakura's lips, but in a different tone and with a different meaning lurking behind it.

"Yes, you should. So many girls in the village would be thrilled to be with you if you just gave them a chance. I have a few in mind who actually asked me about you..."

She began rattling out names and brief descriptions of each female in personality and physical appearance, although Sasuke was paying little attention to her. At her words, a frown had appeared on his visage. He no longer seemed interested in his drink, which he discarded on the nearest table without another sip. He did not glance at Kakashi, but there was something melancholy in his eyes. He seemed in some sort of mental pain that he could not bear to express.

"Some girls in the village," he muttered. "As if I want..."

He stopped, his pensive expression beginning to drag down his entire face. Kakashi was one of the many who acknowledged the good looks Sasuke possessed. But this sheer wistfulness seemed to diminish his handsomeness, even more so than his indifference or mere sadness. He looked almost as if he had fallen ill.

Kakashi did not want to, but he felt a little sorry for Sasuke.

_"Kakashi-sensei belongs to all of us!"_

Sasuke had been a child at the time. If, indeed, someone of his nature could ever be considered a "child". He was always the adult of the three, his maturity nearly resting level with his sensei. When one looked into his eyes, they often saw a full-grown man hiding within the body of a young boy.

For this reason, Kakashi could not dismiss that seemingly innocent exchange. That line about him belonging to all of them had opened up a more recent memory.

_"You weren't meant to love. You were meant to _be_ loved."_

What was the connection between those two utterances, separated by years and countless experiences? Kakashi did not know, but he knew that such a connection existed. He only needed to find it, and perhaps his world would stop spinning.

Kakashi was gazing out the bedroom window at a dark night sky. With the utter silence of the room, he could pretend he was somewhere inside the stars above. He could leave his body behind and rest in the welcoming darkness of a world where nothing spun without his permission.

The smell of strawberry drifted across his nostrils.

He turned sharply toward the source, a name beginning to emerge from his lips.

"Sas-?"

Sakura was standing in the doorway, having crept in noiselessly while Kakashi was buried in his thoughts. She was clothed in a lacy pink nightgown that left few things to the imagination, except perhaps the amount of time it would take her to shed this garment within the next five minutes. The nightgown only descended to above her legs, but she was not wearing anything underneath it. This was fortunate, as it was so transparent and light that any type of underwear would have been a useless accessory. Her long legs that Kakashi adored so much appeared even longer than usual.

Grateful for this distraction, Kakashi left the window and strode toward Sakura, noting the look of sexual desire on her face. He hadn't realized just how much he wanted to hold her, to fondle her, to feel her warm bare skin against his hands, to hear her moans of pleasure, to feel her heart beating fast so close to his own. He hadn't realized just how much he wanted to look at her and only her, to care about her and only her for once in a long while.

For tonight at least, he would not think about Sasuke.


	4. Conversations

I. Sakura

Speaking to Sasuke felt strange.

It seemed less than a week previous that he had declared his love for Sakura and ignited Kakashi's wrath. He had barely conversed with Sakura proceeding the incident, except the usual friendly discourse when they encountered each other in the village. Sakura, who of course knew nothing of the events, wondered if Kakashi had managed to dissuade the other man away from his pursuit.

She was even more caught off guard by the specified meeting place: The very same coffee shop in which Sasuke had serenely delivered his shocking confession. It was as if someone had torn away an image from the past and pasted it over the present. To complete the familiarity, both of them ordered the same beverages they had the last time.

"Thank you for kindness, Sasuke-kun," she uttered politely.

Was it time for another confession? Was she about to learn of the confrontation between current lover and former lover that she had been denied information about?

Sasuke nodded and swallowed an immense mouthful of coffee. He never sought to offset the bitter taste with sugar. He drank this specific beverage for the unforgiving sharpness and the absence of sweet taste. On the contrary, Sakura was never a true fan of coffee or any other type of sour drink. Her own cup had been filled with a heroic amount of sugar before it was allowed to touch her lips.

"How are things with you and Kakashi?" Sasuke inquired casually.

The woman stiffened at his words, returning her risen cup to its place. With Sasuke's love disclosure clinging to her thoughts, she was denied the option of dismissing such a question as commonplace.

"Oh, we're as fine as we can be right now. Relationships, you know."

Sasuke arched an eyebrow to remind her that he did _not_ know, having never experienced the pleasures of a serious relationship. Brief infatuation had surfaced, but it had never had room to grow. His feelings for anyone normally exited in a state of underdevelopment. Up until Kakashi, the garden of wilted flowers in his heart never meant anything of consequence to him.

"And how is Kakashi? Still physically and mentally attracted to you?"

The question fell noticeably below common social etiquette. Sakura would have had every right to withhold the answer, but she did not.

"Yes, I think so. We had sex last night and he didn't seem any less passionate. I think he was MORE passionate than he usually is."

Heat rushed to her visage as these words passed her lips. She hadn't intended to speak so frankly about her most recent sexual experience, but the words had somehow poured out of her by their own power. She couldn't recall speaking to anyone, even her female friends, about sex with Kakashi. Whenever she was prompted to reveal the smutty details, she stubbornly insisted that she would respect Kakashi's privacy as he respected hers. To the best of her knowledge, he was not the type of man to brag or speak indecently of copulation with his lover in company. To repay him for this courtesy, she in turn did not talk about it either.

"Oh, he was? That's...great."

Animosity flitted across his features too quickly for one to ascertain it had been there. Sasuke's full attention shifted to his coffee cup, his spoon circling the steaming contents in quick, jerky motions that were the work of a hand that could not suppress its tremble. Sakura, whose eyes were searching the man's face, did not notice this oddness. If she had, it was the presumption of anyone what she would have made of it in her limited knowledge of his thoughts.

"Um, about _your_ love life...," Sakura began hopefully.

"When you first kissed Kakashi, what was it like?" Sasuke cut across her sentence.

All emotion had left his face. He had halted stirring his coffee and was staring directly into the woman's eyes.

Sakura gazed at him, befuddled at the conversation. For years, she had been training next to this man, fighting next to this man, and desiring this man's love. Yet she had never understood to the fullest extent his personality. She knew the tidbits of character he displayed to the world, but that went for everyone. Her disconnection from his entire self was one of the reasons she had fallen out of love with him. Granted, Kakashi was an enigma in himself, but he seemed a less COLD enigma. Regardless, as with telling Sasuke candidly of her sex life, Sakura felt inclined to answer truthfully instead of abandoning the subject.

"Awkward."

That single adjective gave a valid summary of her first kiss with Kakashi. Tears had been cascading down her face, her mouth choking on words of reproach. She was berating him for unnecessarily risking his life on their mission and nearly dying in his foolhardy act. But she couldn't be certain he understood her criticisms, as her plentiful sobs were deforming the words. When he opened his mouth to respond, she dealt him a painful blow across the face. Then, her sobs still outside of her control, she grabbed his face and pressed her lips to his. Half-blinded by tears, the move was clumsy in its execution. When she pulled away, she angrily informed him that if he had died, she would not have had the chance to do that. In reply, Kakashi seized her to initiate his own kiss. Dissimilar to the one he had been given prior, this kiss was accomplished flawlessly. It was filled with all the love in the world he could offer. Despite her enduring wrath, a moan bubbled up from Sakura's throat as their lips embraced and their tongues twisted around one another.

Sakura went on to detail these things to Sasuke, albeit she omitted the moan in her otherwise immaculate retelling. Color rose in her cheeks at the memory, but she exhaled a sigh of bliss. The recollection had brought back her motive for falling in love with Kakashi. If anyone had informed her that she was destined to fall in love with Kakashi-sensei, she would have been stricken by mirth. Now being in love with him felt as natural as the rising sun.

"I love him," she uttered dazedly. "I just love him. I worried in the beginning that I loved him too much and he'd be turned off..."

Sasuke, whose face had been distended by a look of deep gloom, appeared to awaken from his own misery at the words. The dark scowl on his features lifted slightly, the frown converting to thoughtful. However, the woman across the table had ceased paying him any mind. She had traveled to a place in her own mind where reality could not tread.

" …...but he let me smother him in my affection. I think I nearly suffocated him with my love the first time around. I was paranoid that our relationship wouldn't last for more than a few months, so I tried to pour everything I had into it. And do you know what that wonderful man told me? He said "I love you absolutely and forever". I wanted him to prove it..."

The barely disturbed cup of coffee in front of Sasuke had chilled.

II. Kakashi

"Did you know that Sakura loves you?"

Kakashi opened his eyes, letting reality flood his senses. Sasuke's voice was NOT the one he wanted to hear upon waking, especially having dozed off underneath a tree and descended into pleasant dreams. He could have dismissed the voice as a remnant of a daydream, except Sasuke's visage was floating closely above his own. TOO close, for that matter...

Kakashi scrambled to a sitting position, pressing his back against the unyielding bark of the tree. He felt his heart beating a rapid tattoo of surprise against his chest. He assessed by Sasuke's expression of glee that his reaction had been wanted. It had been nothing less than a little trick, or perhaps a test, and he had fallen directly into it with his newly-awakened mind.

"Yes, I had a feeling Sakura loved me," he uttered dryly, recovering himself. "She might have mentioned it before she moved into my apartment."

Sasuke gave that hollow sound of mirth that he was utilizing with more frequency. The ability to produce a genuine laugh had temporarily escaped him.

"Did you really tell her that you loved her absolutely and forever?" he inquired.

His tone was sharp and reprimanding, as if Kakashi had done an irreparable wrong by saying these words. Albeit, in his own view, the wrong was not irreparable. Damaging and assured to leave a scar that would never fade, but not beyond the threshold of being fixed.

"I told her that and I meant it," Kakashi replied coldly. "I'm not the kind of pathetic asshole who tells women that just to make them happy."

Nothing more happened between the two that day. Sasuke left, throwing a casual word of goodbye over his shoulder. His goal that day was not to reiterate his feelings. His goal was confirmation of Sakura's story. He required this confirmation to open up a new door for himself.

But where could this new door take him?

He had many ideas.

Sakura awakened with a start.

She had dozed off while perusing a romantic novel she enjoyed. Said novel was now sprawled across her lap, similar to how she herself was sprawled across the couch. The images from a dream she had been having were hastily disintegrating from her mind, although she had the impression that Sasuke and Kakashi had been present in her slumber fantasy. The more frantically she tried to hold on to these pictures, the quicker they slipped from the edges of her fingertips. Nevertheless, she was not particularly concerned by this. A dream was a dream, after all.

Late evening had descended over the village. The afternoon had been drawing to its own conclusion when Sakura lapsed into slumber over "Fields of Turmoil". She was not in the habit of taking naps during the day, but her sleep the previous night had faltered due to a bizarre nightmare. She had laid awake for hours proceeding the bad dream, unusually desperate to recall the nature of it. The only definite thing she knew, a fact that was perhaps not directly connected to the nightmare, was that she was abnormally blissful to have Kakashi's sleeping form beside her in bed. She had never truly cherished his steady breathing, the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest, or the peaceful expression on his slumbering features.

The event that had startled Sakura awake was the arrival of Kakashi.

"Welcome back!" she greeted him cheerfully. "How was your mission?"

Kakashi muttered a reply, his thoughts apparently in another dimension. He did not feel the gentle peck on the cheek his girlfriend gave him, nor did he give any consent or objection as she guided him to the couch. He sat without any awareness of doing so and only vaguely registered the pressure on his shoulders. The furthest corner of his brain whispered that Sakura was rubbing the stress from his shoulders, but the low volume of the realization barely reached the crest of his mind. He was surprised that Sakura did not ask him why he was later than expected for the type of mission he had been given. If she had inquired about it, he most likely would have withheld the fact that he had spent an inordinate amount of time aimlessly wandering the village. He might have entered a bar and consumed a few drinks, but his memory was a bit unreliable in that area.

The pressure receded from his shoulders.

"Dinner will be late tonight, but I'll start right away."

Sakura wasn't disconcerted by Kakashi's unresponsive attitude. They both had times, normally after missions, during which they only desired a brief massage, a few kind words of affection, and a satisfactory sleep. The life of a shinobi was a stressful one that often yielded these types of evenings. Sakura had been on the receiving end of this treatment herself and knew the steps for dealing with it.

She started toward the kitchen, but Kakashi leapt from his seat. In one swift motion, he had seized her by the wrist and pulled her back toward him. The action had a certain clumsiness to it, as if he had indeed been drinking significantly before returning home. However, his speech was perfectly formed and his expression showed no signs of intoxication. He leaned close to her ear, his lips almost brushing it.

"I love you," he whispered tenderly. "I love you, Sakura. I love you absolutely and forever."

He moved his head downward and pressed his lips to her neck. She could feel his hot breath affectionately stroking her bare skin. She could feel the life within him, throbbing away under his chest. His entire body was awake as if from sleep, but the type of sleep that one experiences with eyes wide open and senses alert. He could feel the life within her as well, and it excited him to a passionate want.

"Kakashi...I need to...dinner..."

Her words did nothing. Kakashi's hands slid underneath her top, hiking it up somewhat to expose her naked stomach. Still buried in Sakura's neck, which smelled of raspberries, he sought the straps of her bra. Finding the wanted articles, he began to unhook them.

With sudden objection, Sakura released herself from Kakashi's grasp. She pulled her blouse down firmly over the bit of stomach that had been revealed and straightened her upset bra straps. She wasn't blushing or wearing an expression of confusion. The first time they had had sex, it had begun with Kakashi seizing her, pulling her toward him, and bluntly telling her that he wanted to fuck her. He hadn't dressed up the words to make them sound more appealing or danced nervously around the idea. Sakura was used to times when Kakashi was like this and she found it attractive. But it was different this time.

"I have to cook dinner," she uttered firmly.

With no further explanation, she strode into the kitchen to prepare the last meal of the day. There was a somewhat odd look on her face as she did.

Kakashi gazed stupidly after her, the smell of her still thick in his nostrils.

He wondered what Sasuke had said to her.


End file.
